Nile Gardiner is a Washington-based foreign affairs analyst and political commentator. A former aide to Margaret Thatcher, Gardiner has served as a foreign policy adviser to two US presidential campaigns. He appears frequently on American and British television, including Fox News Channel, BBC, and Fox Business Network.

Barack Obama’s paralysed presidency: the White House looks incapable of leading at home and abroad

Earlier this week I gave an interview to Fox News, talking about how the president seems paralysed in the face of the Libyan crisis, as Colonel Gaddafi’s forces make progress towards the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, leaving death and destruction in their wake. While Barack Obama has dithered, and his Secretary of State has worshipped at the altar of the United Nations, one of the most brutal tyrants on the face of the earth is getting away with murder, with a death toll that could reach as high as 15,000. It is a sad day when the foreign policy of the United States, the world’s greatest power, is subordinated to the whims of the UN, for decades a playground for dictators and unabashed anti-Americanism.

To his credit, David Cameron has urged the free world to take action to halt Gaddafi, with or without the backing of the UN Security Council, but his warnings have largely fallen on deaf ears on both sides of the Atlantic. Cameron has the right approach, though Britain today lacks the power to act alone, its strength seriously eroded after years of Labour fecklessness. But, unlike Obama, the British prime minister has shown a willingness to lead, and at least has a backbone. The PM's instincts on this issue are sound, in marked contrast to his US counterpart who is increasingly driven by an isolationist and weak-kneed ideology.

Unfortunately, the Libya debacle is not a one-off, but a potent symbol of declining US leadership on the world stage, from Cairo to Tehran to Moscow. The abandonment of millions of Libyans fighting for freedom sends a clear message to tens of millions of Iranians living under the boot of tyranny that Washington will not help their cause either.

But US weakness on Libya is also a reminder of a White House incapable of leading domestically as well. This is a paralysed presidency, whether it is facing momentous events abroad or towering debts at home. The Obama administration remains in a complete state of denial regarding the massive threat the United States faces with its budget deficit, which is now the largest since 1945. As I’ve noted before, the Obama presidency is sleepwalking America towards long-term economic decline by saddling the American people with a burden of epic proportions, with the Congressional Budget Office predicting in one fiscal scenario that US debt as a share of GDP could reach a staggering 185 percent by 2035 unless it is checked.

What future historians may describe as the “Libya syndrome” – a byword for US presidential inaction – is having a crippling effect on America’s ability to project global power. Barack Obama could well go down in history as the president who dithered while Rome burned, and his legacy of weakness and indecision on several fronts will haunt future generations to come.